Episode 3: Born to be Wild

BORN TO BE WILD

CPH:DOX is one of the world’s largest documentary film festivals — and a highlight of Copenhagen’s cultural calendar.

In this episode we talk to the directors of two films that were screened in competition at the 2019 festival. Two very similar — and yet very different — documentaries about children growing up in Copenhagen today.

First we speak to Phie Ambo about REDISCOVERY — her film about the 10 weeks that almost 50 children from the Green Free School in Amager spent building camps on an overgrown patch of land after they were tasked with establishing a new society there.

Phie talks about the importance of getting children out of the classroom and into new learning environments — and why adults need to rediscover and re-educate themselves about nature, too.

Phie Ambo

Olivia Chamby-Rus

In part two, we meet Olivia Chamby-Rus, and discuss her new film WOLFLAND — a deeply personal slice of life from the perspective of children and teenagers living on or near Blågårds Plads, a square in the northern Copenhagen district of Nørrebro.

Olivia explains why she deliberately avoided mentioning the neighbourhood’s gang violence — and why we need a more nuanced debate in our politics, culture and cinema.

REDISCOVERY (2019)

Archipelago is produced by Mothertongue Media — a new home for English-language podcasts in Denmark.